Crossout
Vehicle CombatYou weld a car together out of salvage, drive it into a fight, and learn what you got wrong when a wheel comes off. The workshop is the better half.
- Build your own vehicle
- Parts stripped from wrecks
- Short matches
Four free browser games, four very different weeks
These are not our games. They are four free-to-play browser titles made by other studios, chosen because each one treats your time differently: a scrapyard where you build the car, a city on a living map, an empire dragged through history, and a squad of soldiers who do not last long.
Each of them runs in the browser you already have open. No installer, no launcher, nothing to update on a Tuesday night. Below, every game gets the same four facts: what it is, what it does well, how long a sitting takes and what it costs.
Four, not forty, and here is why
Most round-ups of this kind are forty games long and useless because of it. Four is a number you can actually choose between. To get on the page a game had to clear four things:
- Browser only. If it needed an installer or a launcher it did not make the page.
- A free player gets a real game. Every one has a shop; none of them is a demo pretending otherwise.
- Proven uptime. These have all been live for years, which is what makes the time worth spending.
- No two alike. A builder, a brawler, a long campaign - the point is that you can pick.
Tentlan
Strategic WorldA Mesoamerican city raised on a living map: feed it, trade with it, ally with the neighbours before they stop being neighbourly. Patient rather than frantic.
- City and resource growth
- Alliance strategy
- Long progression
Forge of Empires
City Through the AgesOne city pulled forward through history, from huts to high-rises, with a fresh layout puzzle every era and a guild that expects you to turn up.
- Eras from stone age on
- Layout puzzle each era
- Guild expeditions
Enlisted
Squad WarfareA Second World War squad shooter where you command a handful of soldiers rather than one body. Historical campaigns, and a match done inside a quarter of an hour.
- Squad command
- Historical campaigns
- Larger team battles
How the four differ
The column to look at first is the one about session length. These four differ far more in pace than in subject, and pace is what decides whether you will still be playing in a month.
| Game | Genre | A typical sitting | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crossout | Vehicle Combat | 15 to 30 minutes a match | Desktop and laptop. |
| Tentlan | Strategic World | 10 to 20 minutes | Desktop and laptop |
| Forge of Empires | City Through the Ages | 15 to 30 minutes | Desktop, laptop and tablet. |
| Enlisted | Squad Warfare | 10 to 15 minutes a match | Desktop and laptop. |
Who pays for all this
All four are free to open and free to continue. All four also sell something - a subscription, a currency, a faster build, a cosmetic - because that is how they are paid for. Describing them as simply free would leave out the part that matters.
The question we cared about is whether a player who never spends is still playing a game, and in all four the answer is yes. Money mostly buys the removal of waiting. If you are going to spend, decide the figure first; the shop is designed to be visited without one.
Why in a browser
The browser is the only place you can begin something at lunch on one machine and resume it at home on another without moving a file. There is a trade behind that convenience:
- Nothing to set up. No download, no disk space, no patch day before you can play.
- Saves follow the account. Switch machines mid-campaign and nothing is lost.
- Plainer visuals. The tab is the ceiling, so the ambition goes into mechanics instead.
- Timers everywhere. They are why a campaign survives a busy week, and why staring at one is dull.
Start here
Forge of Empires. It is the easiest of the four to pick up, it gives you something to do every single visit, and the era-by-era layout puzzle is quietly the best thing on this page. If you want a fight tonight instead, Enlisted will have you in one in two minutes.
Questions worth answering
Is there a download?
None. All four run in the browser. Two offer an optional desktop client; nobody has to use it.
What about playing on mobile?
The pages load on a phone, but these games were designed around a cursor and a decent screen. A tablet is the practical minimum.
Do they ask for registration?
Mostly yes - the game has to remember your world. The account is created on their site and is nothing to do with any account here.
Do these cost anything?
Not to play. Each one has optional purchases, which is what funds the servers, and none of them hides the game behind the shop.
Why is this list on this site?
Because the people who built this site play these games. The four titles belong to other studios; there is no arrangement behind their being here.
GROVE HOLT
A short list of free-to-play browser games, kept by the people who run this site. None of the four are ours.
Grove Holt
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